For the second time this season, the Vikings got just enough hitting and pitching for a 6-3 win over the Terriers in a Skyland Conference Raritan Division clash on a chilly Thursday afternoon in Lebanon Township.
Voorhees (2-5 overall, 2-4 division) defeated Delaware Valley, 5-3, on April 2 in Alexandria Township for its only other win this season. This one snapped a five-game skid since that Opening Day victory.
"This about the time of year when we start playing good baseball," said veteran Voorhees coach Spark Mattson, whose teams have been known to pick it up around the start of the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament which begins next Wednesday. "We played great defense today and we're starting to pitch better. We needed this one. It was huge."
Del Val (3-6, 2-4) has had a bit of an up-and-down campaign thus far. The Terriers have played some of the better teams on their schedule very tough -- as in 3-2 losses to Ridge and Raritan Division frontrunner Somerville -- but haven't fared well in others.
Coach Marty White's team didn't help itself by committing six errors, and the lack of a big hit early on proved costly when Del Val rallied for three runs in the sixth. Had the Terriers been able to scratch across one or two runs earlier, it might have put a little more heat on Voorhees starter Kyle Pierson and reliever Matt Furka.
"We can't get that hit at the right time," said White, whose team was held to three runs or fewer for the fifth time this season. "We don't hit together, our hits are scattered. We can't get a bunt down. It's the little things that are killing us right now. We made bad errors at the wrong time and they came back to bite us."
Pierson, a sophomore, pitched well in earning his first victory. The right-hander allowed seven hits and three runs, while walking two and striking out four in five innings. He exited in the sixth after loading the bases on two walks and a hit batsman. Mike Innocenti's bloop single to left plated a run and knocked Pierson from the game.
Furka came in and gave up a two-run single to designated hitter Ryan Hann, who had two hits, before getting a strikeout and a 4-3 double play to end the threat. The righty worked around an error in the seventh in an otherwise uneventful frame to nail down his first save.
"[Pierson] threw a nice game, considering he's only a sophomore," Mattson said. "He only had one other varsity start against Warren Hills [a loss on April 4]. He's still young. I thought he handled himself real well out there. He was getting ahead, which is huge. He lost his focus in the sixth inning. Unfortunately, my asking him if he still had it after the fifth inning probably distracted him."
Voorhees jumped all over Del Val starter Joe Chiarino early -- knocking him out of the game after just two innings. The Vikings scored on an error in the first, before a three-hit second inning that was highlighted by leadoff hitter Nick Marini's double to the left-center-field gap that plated two of the team's three runs. Dan Barone's sacrifice fly capped the scoring as Voorhees led, 4-0.
Del Val reliever Logan Brown, a sophomore, went the final five innings, striking out four and allowing two runs on three hits.
Del Val missed a golden chance in the third with runners on first and second and none out, following singles by Hann and Adam Novotny. Shortstop Chris Fiaschetti popped up to Pierson for the first out, and after a fielder's choice erased Hann, first baseman Scott Skripko, Del Val's best hitter, grounded out to second to end the inning.
The Vikes tacked on two more in the fourth with a two-out rally. Josh Hausler singled and came all the way round to score on a three-base error as the ball rolled between the center fielder's legs, while Andrew Haspel singled in Barone, who doubled following Hausler's hit and tour of the bases. Hausler went 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
Up next for Voorhees is a home date with Montgomery, while Delaware Valley hosts South Hunterdon in Saturday contests.
DELAWARE VALLEY (ab-r-h-rbi) -- Fiaschetti ss 4-0-1-0, Williams 2b 4-0-2-0, Skripko 1b 4-0-0-0, Chiarino p-3b 3-1-1-0, Perna 3b-cf 2-1-0-0, Pilone c 2-1-0-0, Innocenti lf 2-0-0-0, Egidio lf 1-0-1-1, Hann dh/Mikulicz rf 3-0-2-2, Novotny cf-rf 3-0-1-0. Totals: 28-3-9-3.
VOORHEES (ab-r-h-rbi) -- Marini cf 4-1-1-2, Hausler c 4-2-3-1, Barone rf 2-1-1-1, Haspel dh/Tiger lf 4-0-1-1, Palmer 1b 4-0-0-0, Pierson p-2b 3-0-0-0, Rocca cr 0-0-0-0, D. Wernicki 3b 3-0-1-0, Furka 2b-p 3-1-0-0, J. Wernicki 2b 0-0-0-0, Kroll ss 3-1-1-0. Totals: 30-6-7-5.
Voorhees (2-5, 2-4) 130 200 x -- 6 7 1
Delaware Valley (3-6, 2-4) 000 003 0 -- 3 8 6
E -- Fiaschetti, Pilone 2, Perna, Chiarino, Skripko; Kroll. DP Voorhees 1 (Pierson-Palmer). LOB -- Delaware Valley 7, Voorhees 9. 2B -- Marini, Barone. SB -- Williams, Perna 2, Chiarino; Hausler 2. CS -- Skripko. SF -- Barone.
Chiarino, Brown (3) and Pilone. Pierson, Furka (6) and Hausler. W -- Pierson (1-1). L -- Chiarino (1-2). S -- Furka 1. SO-BB -- Chiarino 0-1, Brown 4-1; Pierson 4-2, Furka 1-0. WP -- Pierson. HBP -- Perna (by Pierson).
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